Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
“We got a lot of talent on this team, and coach does his best at trying to switch up guys at who he want out there,” Rozier said. “It’s not easy. We got a lot of guys that can play, and we’ve only been together for a month. So that might take a little process for that to happen, but us being who we are, when you look at the media, when you look at other stuff, we want to be good right now because we got all this hype. When we have games like last night and lose, it’s frustrating. We can look at so many things, but we want to be good right now. It might take some time, but we have to play harder. We had a great hard practice today, and that’s what practice has got to be, that’s what the game has got to be. We can control that, we can’t control who is out there and stuff like that, and how coach subs.”
The rest of the NBA is averaging approximately 500 points per game while the Celtics struggle to put up 90. It’s frustrating to watch and surely more frustrating to participate in, but I think people are forgetting something: the Celtics haven’t had a great offense in several years. In the brief Isaiah Thomas era, the team had a way of putting a lot of points on the board in not a lot of time, and even then it was more out of desperation than playing the game efficiently. They have the talent now, but they don’t have their footing. That will come soon enough.
Remember, the Pierce/Garnett/Allen era started with those guys teaming up at age 30 or later. These Celtics only have two guys older than 30 on the entire team – Al Horford and Aron Baynes. They’ll figure out how to play with and off each other in due time.
I’d like to point out that wide-open shots aren’t always the best shots. A lot of the looks the Celtics are getting involve a sedentary player catching the ball outside the arc before heaving it. It’s not great basketball, honestly. Some guys shoot better if they can step into the shot or come off a screen first. Sometimes you need a good look at the rim before the long distance shots can start falling. Most guys can’t catch fire from deep right from the opening tip, and yet the Celtics aren’t showing much hesitation in launching threes from the get-go. I’ll feel better about things when we see more ball movement, more dunks in transition, and more of Kyrie Irving playing aggressive early to set the tone.
On page 2, Bob Cousy visits practice
“He talked about the legacy of being a Celtic,” Brad Stevens revealed after Tuesday afternoon’s practice. “He said how important it is to do things the right way, the mindset you need to be great, all of those things.”
…
“I’ve said this many times before,” Stevens noted, “that it’s one thing to have all those banners hanging above you, but when those guys come in and they’re at a game or at practice or whatever, you just kind of say, ‘Man, we have a lot of responsibility for the uniform we’re putting on.”
Cousy was joined at the facility by author Gary Pomerantz, who recently collaborated with Cousy to write a book, “The Last Pass,” on the point guard’s experience with the Celtics and his relationship with Bill Russell.
There’s not a lot to be humble about in Boston these days. Nearly every year since 2001, at least one of our teams has made a championship appearance (and more often than not, they win). Bob Cousy was a great of some great teams, too, but here’s the difference – basketball wasn’t nearly as popular back then. I just googled the average home game attendance back in the ’50s out of curiosity, and the highest year average was about 10,500. Most other years didn’t exceed 8,000. According to Wikipedia, the Garden could seat almost 14,000 total back then. Could you imagine thousands of empty seats in the there today?
The article mentions how “things were different back then” and Cousy’s relationship with Bill Russell, which I can’t help but think is eluding to mention that Boston (and much of America) was a racist hellscape back in the day. (It still is, but it was then, too.) Maybe I’m reading the room incorrectly, but the topics of basketball, Bill Russell, and race relations in this country are nearly inseparable in any conversation that mentions at least two of the three.
These young Celtics are smart. They know what the world is like. Still, it’s important that we listen to people like Cousy and Russell to remember what the world could be like if hatred and fear go unchecked.
More links
Boston Herald: Celtics’ Brad Stevens takes shots at team
NBC Sports: Cousy’s visit to practice an inspiration to current Celtics | Boston Globe: Celtics get a pep talk from one of their greatest: Bob Cousy
MassLive: Boston Celtics’ Kyrie Irving wants to emphasize defense
Forbes: First look: The Boston Celtics suffer early offensive woes
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